Fiber and Yarn

I am probably so far away from this resolution not to by yarn/fiber or fabric that I need to completely reset my clock. Still working on how to accomplish it though...
Oh well, I saw the best movie ever this weekend! Well, maybe not the best movie "ever," but a darn good flick. Everyone should go see it. The movie of which I speak is the new film entitled "Hot Fuzz" from the director (s?) of Shawn of the Dead. We were practically rolling in the aisles for this entire movie. And, yes it is a tad bit gory (okay, at some points a lot gory), lets just say some one gets exploded. But it was brief gore for the most part.
Review: 4 needles up (on a scale of 1-4)
In knitting news, I am getting fairly close to finishing "Audrey" from Elspeth Lavold out of the new Cotton Frappe. I really like the yarn, I just want to warn people that the label lies. It is not 5-5.5 stitches to the inch, it is not even 6 (my tank top is a little loose at 6), in fact I'm willing to bet that the stitch gauge would be best at 7 per inch. That's how far the bloody label is off. But, don't let that discourage you. The yarn is beautiful, and wonderful to work with. I love how it knits, less harsh than many cottons, and the polymid wrap around the yarn gives it a beautiful little sparkle. The yarn is very sturdy because it is one of those tube yarns and the polymid bit gives no trouble with snags.
The pattern, "Audrey," on the other hand, has several big erratas, so if you use the pattern, be sure to check those out.
I now have the back and over half of the front done! Yippee!

New Layout

I'm sick of the pink of the old layout, time to try nice soothing colours. What do you all think?
In other news, I recieved my package from littlesailor on craftster for the panta swap. And I have pictures! The first is a photo I took myself with some wool I am carding. It is romney, but I have to use my stash up at some point. It's a pretty turquoise that I am carding other colours into.
Then I gave the camera to Mom and asked here to take a couple of photos. I think that I need to remember to get her to take my photos in the future. Kudos to Mom.



There were also 6 stitch markers in the package. Here they are posed with my cat, Mayumi. Ik tried to get her to play with them for the picture, but she wasn't cooperating. Silly cat.

Two Classisists and a Movie

Friday night I went with A and Em to see 300 after Good Friday service. A nice way to cheer up after sitting through service which I don't believe in (being a Catholic Agnostic who attends a Lutheran Church).
In any case, after service (why couldn't it have been in Latin?) we went to see a comedy: 300.
I guess that it really wasn't intended to be a comedy, but that's how it turned out. We laughed ourselves silly, not that we weren't already silly... But I promised to post a list we made after the movie with our impressions:
A Comprehensive List of Historical Inaccuracies Contained Within the Movie Entitled "300"

• The cast was almost entirely garbed in tight leather underwear (yumm). And although I appreciated the view, it was inaccurate, very much so. And A claims that several of the actors were falling out of said garments
• The cast was wearing floor length cloaks into battle. Impractical anyone? Try fighting in that during battle. Plus the length was closer to something a woman would have worn.
• Hair? Aside from Leonidas, everyone else had interesting hair (and what was up with his rattail).
  
• bad wigs
• What's up with the Queen's hair?

• Speaking of which, did anyone think the Queen's outfits remarkably period? Though I have to say I am impressed with how those things stayed on. I guess lots of ductape was needed.
• What was with the diapers the children were wearing, were they supposed to be loin cloths?
• And what were those imbred, leper priests doing in a temple on top of a cliff (how's anyone supposed to get an oracle?) having sexy sexy with a red haired oracle/prostiture (who had nipples the size of marbles). Not even going to ask. And the oracle was drug induced? No, that was from fumes from the ground at Delphi, thank you very much.
  
• There was a pile of baby skulls. No, this is not right, babies exposed that young do not leave skulls (and would probably have been picked up for slaves or something). And what was with the wierd training regime they made up? The Spartans were wierd, but the movie was ridiculous. And there was a wierd CG-ed Warag type wolf who randomly appeared with snow (In Greece?) who's eyes glowed, literally. Sigh
• The whole Xerxes thing. Could we have laughed any harder? I doubt it. A was biting her knuckles when he first came on scene.
  
• Gay Xerxes?
• Xerxes in golden underpants with chains?
• Xerxes in blue (Em thinks it was turquoise) eyeliner?
• Xerxes trying to give Leonidas a massage? (Was that an oil massage?)
• Xerxes on a Minoan Bull throne?
• And his jewelry? Come on...
• The actor who played him was too young and had a shaved head.

• The Spartans in the movie had virtually no armour, except those leg greaves.
• My personal pet peeve: Stirrups. Stirrups are not period, and they put them in the movie. Grrrrr...Neither are knights, or destriers.
• Rhinos? In battle? Giant Oliphants?
• There were honest to god longbows in that movie. Way too early and wrong location. And really bad arrows which didn't even look aero dynamic. And the quivers were also medieval.
  
• Ninjas? In Greece? Hahahahaha. Seriously, these guys had Asian masks on, ninjaoid outfits and what looked a heck of a lot like katanas.
• What was with the hunchback? I just didn't get it.
• The Spartans all seemed to have different accents (I don't expect them to all speak ancient Greek, but come on). Lets see, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, English (of various derivations), American, and Aussie. And they were all supposed to be from the same tribe?
• Those swords looked absolutely bizzare and not even remotely Greek, I'm sorry.
• The houses looked more like Roman villas.
• Blond Spartans? Who were all body builders (not that I'm complaining, but they looked like body builders, not fighters) and quite a few of them had man boobies. Did they have breast implants?
• The language was just off, descriptions of things.
• What was with the S&M outfits on the Acadians?
• The fighting was just off. And so sad too, considering that not minutes before battle was enjoined, Leonidas bothered to explain how hoplite warfare worked in a reasonably accurate manner. Then they didn't bother with any of that and jumped and cavorted (in tight leather underwear) about the battlefield complete with Ninjas (immortal ninjas) rhinos, a cave troll (I expected Boromir and Aragorn to jump in here. Faramir was already there), and Oliphants.
• They also decided to make a wall with dead bodies. I don't care what Hollywood (or baliwood for that matter) tells me, dead bodies are not good building material. And they're smelly. And gooey, and nasty.
• Tortuga (sp?) shields? That's a very Roman idea, not Greek.
• Did I mention that they had a cave troll?
• They kept calling the soldiers slaves, but in reality it is more likely the Persian soldiers would have been mercenaries.
• Xerxes harem was....I'm not even going to go there.
• The belts had modern buckles, the fibulae were bizzare, and the shin protectors were metal.
• The jewelry was bizzare.
• The shield were all the same and metal (they should have been wood and leather painted)
• There were no people doing normal things: pottery, spinning, weaving etc.
• Gold coins? No, more like silver, bronze, stuff like that. And certainly not stamped with Xerxes' profile (complete with face piercings). I'm pretty sure portraits on coins are later (like the romans).
• Iron Swords? Where is the bronze. It is called the bronze age for a reason.
• There were people impaled with spikes coming out of there mouths. We just couldn't figure out quite how they managed that. It looked like it would have been tricky. Why not just hack the head off and impale that?
• There were people throwing "magic" grenades who really looked like beduin women. Yeah
• And I swear that I saw some huns somewhere in there.
• There seemed to have been no 2nd king in Sparta. When in fact there were always two kings so one could be at home ruling while the other was out fighting.
• Plus, 300-10 does not still equal 300, they seemed to have had a hard time with math in the movie.

Lots of fun. This movie really should have been billed as a comedy.

The frozen lands of the North

I am headed up to Seattle at o-dark-30 tommorow morning. Greyhound...wish me luck.
In the meantime, I have pictures of stuffs sent for swaps. I have been crafting, honest! Here is a lace sample of singles spun from some tussah silk I dyed with one shot (Rasberry). The pattern is out of Victorian Lace Today.

The second is a felted bag (minus the strap) I made for the Hogwarts' House Swap through Craftster. The confirmation thingee through USPS said that it has gotten to its destination, but my partner has not yet posted pictures. Grr...I hope she will soon! 'cause I forgot to take pictures before I sent.

In other words I still have a couple of projects going:

• Starting a tank out of the new Cotton Frappe from Elspeth Lavold. It's working out okay, despite being 95% cotton. Don't have more than 3 rows yet though. It's going to be a project for this weekend.
• Self-designed tank. Not sure of the name yet. It's 100% linen (I think) that I got at Goodwill. It's a light greyish blue, and I dyed some of it brown as an accent colour with Rit. Note to self, next time don't try one shot (I thought at first that it might have some silk in it, but no). I only have a couple of swatches made at this point, so more later.
• Leg warmers from knitpicks. I am almost done with the first of them. Yay! They are not going with me to Seattle though, as dealing with two yarns at once on the bus would be a major pain. Anywho...

Ciao

Days Since last purchased fibre:16 days
Fabric: 22 days
Yarn: 16 days

Swap Package

Well, I received my package for the Harry Potter Houses Swap on Craftster...Here they are:
A Mudblood T-Shirt. Perfect for a Ravenclaw?

A Ravenclaw blanket. I think I have some navy bias tape that will compliment it around the edges nicely.

A bag will my initials. Maybe I can find some nice silver bias tape for it. And the seams on the inside in the second photo.

Lastly I was sent a headband and candies, represented by the white chocolate rat. Anyone want some candy. I have lots now.

I got this from A's site. It looked like fun. I'm skipping songs I did not put on this thing for the sake of my sanity (Especially considering there are Sailor Moon songs on there...I swear I didn't put them on, although I have to admit I own them.) I will put those in a subscript or something for amusements sake though considering how often the stupid things came up.

Opening Credits: "Tehcno Dance/Bu Yao Lai (sp?)" China Dolls
Waking Up: "The Coventry Carol" Medieval Babes
-"Rainy Day Man" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
-"My Only Love" Sailor Moon Soundtrack (creepy)
First Day at School: "The Nightengale" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
Falling in Love: "Hangover Song" Michael Longcor
Fight Song: "Kung Foo Fighting" Foo Fighters
Breaking Up: "Army" No idea-anonomous SCA song
Prom: "Tokyo Girl" Ace of Base
-"Call My Name (and I'll be There)" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Life: "Gypsy Rover" Clancy Brothers
Mental Breakdown: "Last Unicorn Theme" Kenny Loggins
Driving: "Charlie's Sweet" Mary Anne Custer La Rue
-"La Isla Bonita" Madona
Flashback: "Someone (Thai version)" China Dolls
Getting Back Together: "Wooden Toy Sword" Heather Alexander
Losing Your Virginity: "Help" Beatles
Wedding: "You wanna Dance?" China Dolls
Birth of a Child: "Igraynes Dance" -Unknown
-"Larger than Life" Backstreet Boys
Final Battle: "Two Maidens" in Bawdy Songs by Oscar Brand
-"It's a New Day" Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Death Scene: "Bedlam Boys" Heather Alexander
Ending Credits: "Butterfly" DDR

I have to say that I have great End Credits. Though some other things are a little wonky. Like my Final Battle song, and my getting back together song. I was sort of hoping March of Cambreath would come up...Anyways, L put some very interesting stuff on here, I couldn't believe how many times I had to skip past Sailor Moon songs. Gag me with a spoon please.

Days since last purchase fibre: 1 week
Days Since Last Purchased Yarn: 1 week
Days Since last purchased fabric: 2 weeks

A Cornucopia of Yarn

I looked at my stash this afternoon, and I thought that A's yarn diet might be a good idea...Maybe not as strict a yarn diet, but maybe "Yarn Watchers". So, I think that I shall keep track of how many days it has been since I last bought yarn/fiber/fabric. So, not a diet per se, but something of the sort. That should, hopefully, help. But I can't stop cold turkey. I don't have that much will power when it comes to fabric.

• I bought fabric. Again. This is a pale peach silk in a herringbone twill from 27th street Fabrics on Willamette. Sigh. There were 3.25 yards and 30% off. Okay, so I spent $10 a yrd, but its really pretty. I doesn't seem to want to photograph (bad colour), so I will just have to show peoples in person. I also found some buttons that I am dyeing to have that are .90 each. They are little metal shank buttons with a stylized knight on them. Are they worth it?
• I made the mistake of stepping into Soft Horizons on Tuesday. I had the afternoon off, and I was in the area, so...My pain wasn't so great though. I managed to get away with a skein of Inca Alpaca (on sale) and a bit of camel/silk roving. Did I mention that Soft Horizons is now carrying more fiber? They now have some mohair, some merino/silk, camel, and camel/silk roving. Thankfully it is not nearly so bad as stepping into Dye Lots.
• I made a panta based on A's pattern. It's hard to see because the lighting in the picture isn't so great (need to photograph outside next time) but I did it in Alpaca Silk DK from Debbie Bliss on size US 4s with my own cable pattern. I love the yarn by the way. It is much better to work on than the Alpaca Silk Aran weight. It seems a little less pilly and is harder to split. I also have two caliometry pantas ready for me to sew buttons on, no pictures yet, as one is going to a swap partner (Thankfully she's in Canada because it is quite warm). The other is going to the daughter of one of the other choir members in my church choir.

• I finished the snow drop shawl. I will try to take pictures where it is nice and sunny (ha!) tomorrow. More on that later.
• Hogwart's House Swap is just about ready to send. I don't think that I will be able to send till Saturday, just because that's my day off. Here's a preview:

Ta for now!

Days since last purchased fibre: 2 Days
Days since last purchased yarn: 2 Days
Days since last purchased fabric: 1 Week

Duck Socks

Not much to post right now. Maybe later. But I thought that I would post now that I have finally figured out to get into blogger with google. Gah. Remind me to write theese things down next time. In any case my life is as follows:

• I still have weaving for 3 more weeks and have 2 feet on my shawl. It is huck lace in the simple "Huck Lace" pattern (original ne?) alternating with stripes of plain weave. It's a 6 WPI warp and a 10 WPI weft that is my own handspun merino bought at the Puyallup fair several years ago. The picture of the cone is to illustrate just how little yarn I ended up with after warping.

• Work Work Work. Life is going to get interesting, J's leaving for Thailand the 21st.
• A pair of socks for housemate B. They're fun, but a little bit ducky. I didn't intentionally do so, really. As I told our Pastor's wife: "It wasn't intelligent design, but more of evolution..." Will that get me excommunicated? Probably not from a Lutheran Church. Too much to hope.

• Craft Swap 1: I need to finish up a project for the Hogwart's House Swap. I'm making stuff for a Gryffindor. Send out date was yesterday, but I lost a skein of yarn and had to order more... Can't wait to see what I'll get.
• Craft Swap 2: I just dyed the roving yesterday, and I am not entirely satisfied with the results. Hmmm...I'll try to get some advice from A. I recieved my yarn from Tristitia though. Lovely roving in a neutral and a wine colourway. Plus a skein of yarn from Knit Picks for dyeing.

• Craft Swap 3: I just got my partner info (though it sounds like it may change...) and I need to make a panta in like a black/blue colour scheme. This should be a fun/easy/quick swap. Which I need after signing up for three consequtively. Sigh.

Coming soon: My new panta! Death by yarn? How much is too much to spend on fabric?

Winter Blah

It has now been almost a month since my last post. I have been fairly busy, thus my lack of postage. I have been working on a few projects, and have little to show. One sweater, the sweater of "doom" is not yet finished. I do not have any pictures of it (because it is the sweater of "doom") but suffice it to say, I went to sew up the arms and shoulders, and the arms do not fit in the shoulder. And by not fitting, I really mean that they do not fit. The shoulders turned out to be about 2 inches smaller than the armhole. No, you heard me right, the armhole is bigger, and so needs to be gathered into the arm, and not the other way around. Needless to say, it looks terrible. So I borrowed the Ann Budd sweater book from A, and am going to try and fix my arms. I think that if I make the sleeve cap longer, it should work. And yes, before people ask, I did check the web for erratas, and no luck. If any one was wondering, this sweater is a bolero pattern from Debbie Bliss in "Simply Soft." I am doing it in a Plymoth Yarn, Baby Alpaca Boucle in a magenta/red. Pictures shall be forthcoming (once I figure out the bloody shoulder). After that all I will have left will be to pick up stitches and knit the shawl collar. Yay!
In other news, I finally got my Thai music in the mail from ethaicd.com I ordered several CDs by my favourite Thai groups: China Dolls, and Bazoo. Their music holds fond memories for me. Woot! A search on UTube (or however you spell it) will bring up their music videos. Highly amusing, ne? As soon as I have a little more money (which is not going to be spent on more yarn for a long while) I think I will order some more. I found a group with is called "Pop Angels" that has Thai remakes of 60's 70's songs like the "Monster Mash." It's an absolute hoot. Endless hours of amusement.
In other knitting news: I made a shop model out of the Baby Alpaca Boucle (Sale of the Month) in autum colours (don't like them personally, but others seem to). I feel proud. The yarn was the colour we had the most of (35 skeins) and now we have like ten. And such a hideous colour too! Nice yarn to work with though. It's a bulky nylon/alpaca blend. I'm just sick of it now from trying to sew up the sweater (seams in boucle are EVIL).
And apparently the pictures I just transfered to my computer are gone (I had a picture of the scarf, but it is no more. So you will have to content yourselves with this picture that Asher took of me. This is Sunday at Starbucks, the new location for knitting. I am sporting my newly finished panta, courtesy of a pattern from Fyber duck. They are loads of fun to make. I'm currently making another one with a cable pattern of my own with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK (the sale of the week). I adore this yarn. It is so soft. If only it wasn't normally so expensive.

In other news, I thought that I would post this, I doubt anyone will comment, but I have to post it. Post a reply in the comments section, if you feel like it. I got this from A's blog:
1. Can you cook?

2. What was your dream growing up?

3. What talent do you wish you had?

4. Favorite place?

5. Favorite vegetable?

6. What was the last book you read?

7. What zodiac sign are you?

8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?

9. Worst Habit?

10. Do we know each other outside of the blogsphere?

11. What is your favorite sport?

12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?

14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?

15. Tell me one weird fact about you:

16. Do have any pets?

17. Do you know how to do the macerana?

18. What time is it where you are now?

19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be???

21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?

22. What color eyes do you have?

23. Ever been arrested?

24. Bottle or Draft?

25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?

27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?

28. Do you believe in ghosts?

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?

30. Do you swear a lot?

31. Biggest pet peeve?

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?

33. Will you repost this on your blog?

Back in the Saddle Again

Well, here's the first post in almost 2 months now. I am a lazy, no-good slacker, but now I shall endeavor to post more frequently (and no, my fingers are not crossed behind my back ^_^).
A lot has come and gone in the two months since my last post. I won't bore you with the details, especially considering that several of you see me regularly off-line.
But, I have the SKB finished..almost. It wound up a little big and I still have to take out the bottom and redo it without the darts, and that should, theoretically, make it fit. Admire my truly terrible attempts at picture taking. All together, the SKB was a good project, though the pattern had some major issues. Just about everyone I know had issues with the purl ridges at the edges. I solved it by knitting a bit beyond the purl ridge and binding off to the inside to form a hem, but the downside to that is that it makes it really lumpy. Grrr...



















I also just finished a craft swap from Craftster. I am really happy with how everything for it turned out. . SicMariaVic (my swap partner) sent me a lovely hand made hat in mohair, and three skeins of pink/maroon yarn with bobbles. Here is the hat, and the yarn.














I really have no idea yet what I'm going to do with the yarn. In the hat picture you can see the gift I made for my swap partner, it is a neckwarmer from my handspun. Some really old handspun I might add. This yarn was spun for Katharine, a friend of mine at school, and she made mittens from it, this was the leftover which she returned to me when we were all packing up at graduation time. The yarn is so old (relatively speaking), that I spun it with my first wheel. Yes, I used to own a Babe . I have since had several wheels, and the Babe was, by far, the worst, most picky, ugly, ungainly, breakable, not to mention shoddy, wheel that I have ever owned. Can you tell I don't like them? It was free though. But this yarn I spun my freshman year of college on that wheel. I'm happy with how the neckwarmer turned out. It is a merino from Lamb's Ear in Tacoma.
I think that's enough for now. I will write later on my knitting travails.

The Early Bird Gets the Early Worm

And thus goes the saying that I most should keep in my mind. I have noticed that it has been quite awhile since I last posted. Much has happened, much has been spun, much has been knit (I love the passive voice) in the interrim. The knitting is going well. I just started A's Hanukah present today, and I'm happy with how it is turning out. I am almost finished with the SKB, but it's not yet to a stage that I would like anyone to yet see me in.
A couple of weekends ago, we went out to the McT's farm for a photo op. I thought to share some of the lovely results (courtesy of B's camera and A's computer). Shetland sheep are absolutely adorable and so friendly (when given the proper incentive).

A and I sat down on the manger amidst the wool and sheep, and there we knit. Electra was rather cooperative. A is wearing, by the way, the SKB that I am working on making (half a sleeve, the neck and I will be ready to block it).



That is, until she decided to wander off to greener pastures (i.e. outside), the yarn I was knitting got tangled around here and both my yarn (homespun!) and my project (fingerless gloves!) dissappeared out of the barn.

To make matters worse, three other sheep got spooked by our trying to rescue my yarn from Electra. They in turn dragged my yarn through the pasture (muddy!) and managed to wrap it around three separate posts in the process. I still haven't gotten up the courage to look at it or wash it. *Sob* And here are the sheep, looking very unrepentant.

In other news, I finished and sent off my Inuyasha swap package to my partner, C. Mom called me at work today to let me know that my side of the swap package had arrived. Hooray! I can't wait to get home to open it. I have some pictures, but they didn't turn out the best. I need to take the pictures during the day rather than at night. The lighting in our house is just hideous. At least the overhead light in th ekitchen is now finished. It hasn't been working for the past few months, so it is an enlightening (ouch*) experience.

Ta for now, we are almost to closeing at work.

A discourse on the subject of buses

Don't get me wrong, I love riding the bus. And I think that the bus system in Eugene is okay (not necessarily great, but okay). And I have been riding the bus since childhood. I, however, do not appreciate being left in the cold and the rain.
Yes, dear readers, the bus left 4 of us today at the Amazon Station, just drove right past us. And this, I might add is from a bus that cannot possibly be overcrowded, as it is a bus that is articulated (meaning that it has an extra caboose on the back). No, it drove right on past, as happy as you please. Stupid busses.
Thankfully, there was a girl who had her car and drove the poor stranded students, that being us, to school. Stupid busses.
Onto a happier note, I have no pictures for all y'all (did you like that A? I used the proper 2nd person plural!) because I am to lazy to transfer pictures to my camera. Maybe I will add them later. If I had pictures, I would post that I am working on the following with some sucess:
1) A cabled hat from handspun that I made from leftovers from the fibre guild at the U of O (It's about half way)
2) The SKB, yes, I am still working on it, but I am about to bind off the bottom of the body. I think, however, that I shall take S advice and knit a little extra and hemming it under.
3) A purple feather/fan scarf. This is almost finished...finally. I have half a skein left.
4)My Inuyasha swap, I have my small project finished, and have finished mapping out the big project...I just have to go find the bits for inbetween (sounds like its time for a trip to ECC and Sunrise Food Market...oooh, I could do that on the way home from work!). I am soo excited. I just hope my partner likes what I'm making her. I'll post pictures when I'm done.
Now I have to go home and take pictures so as to add them.

Pictures (Katie's projects)

Hey, look, I figured out how to post! Why'd it take so long? Well, my digital camera had no battery life, that and well, I just haven't. But yes, pictures! What have I been doing up here in the northern waistlands of Washington?
Well....




First we have a picture of the stuff I've done on the knifty knitter, or peg loom, as I like to call it. My second, third and fourth attempts at hats, which turned out pretty good. The first one I already donated, seeing as I'm making them for charity. Although the red and yellow one isn't cause my mom claimed it, and well, it is my real first attempt at multi-strand patterning ever...unless the scarf counts. That scarf has so many issues with it, and it didn't turn out at all like I had planned, but oh well, it too is getting donated, so someone will have a nice warm (almost too warm) scarf.





Next we have my two scarfs, the one on the right was made first, same pattern. I love this pattern, it's so damn cool and I don't get sick of it!! But the first one turned out better than the second, mostly cause of the type of yarn. And although this picture doesn't show it, both are of decent size, it's just that the first one dwarfs the second so it looks small, but it really isn't. Still don't know what I'm goinbg to do with the second scarf.









Then we have my second attempt at peg knitting a scarf, which peg knitting this yarn is a heck of a lot easier than knitting it. I couldn't see the stitches when I tried to knitt it. And that's my second scarf on the loom there, which will be wider than the first one, which is a good thing, cause you can't quite tell from this picture, but my first one is impossibly skinny AND long! It's hugely long, actually. I think it's one of those things you have to see in person.

So that's me. I'm also working on peg knitting a shawl, which I forgot to take a picture of, so I'll put that up when I'm done :) I really like knitting on these things, actually, a lot more than I figured I would.

But yes, by the way, Miriam, I like the 'wrist supports' as you put it, or someone put it, or whatever. But yes, very nice. :D

Of Mice and Cats

This post is a tribute to my wonderful cat. Recently I have found myself taking lots of pictures of her. In thinking upon this desire, I wonder if it stems from the worry that my cat is going to pass on sooner rather than later-she is about13 years old now and no spring chicken). I am sure she will live many more years, but I am growing more aware of her mortality. Recently she lost a great deal of weight because she lost a tooth, and she can no longer eat big cat dry food (she can still eat the kitten sized stuff). She's putting on more weight now (I keep feeding her as much as I can), but I do worry.
In any case, I recently put my mind to making her and Baxter (the Siamese) catnip mice. So far I have only made one, but Baxter doesn't seem to show much interest (possibly because Mayumi (my cat) has drooled all over it) and so I may not make another for him. Mayumi, on the other hand, is absolutely enamoured with the mouse. I am a bit worried that it will fall apart from her worrying over it (no pun intended) but so far it has stood up to her teeth and claws.
Last week Mayumi caught a real mouse... and killed it (Happy day, we have a slight problem with mice in our house right now). Mayumi deserted her mouse, and Baxter decided to play with it. Whereupon it dissappeared for two days.
You know where it reappeared? MY BAG!
On my way to school I found it between my Chem book and my notebook. I picked it up, thinking it was a piece of yarn or lint, and to my horror, it was soft and squishy. ICK!
Thank you Baxter.And now Mayumi is sick of me taking pictures of her, so I will entertain you with my recent knitting exploits. I finished the boucle fingerless gloves I was working on last post, unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of them finished for you peoples. I am working more on the SKB, Asher and I both worked on ours last night at knitting, and I am finished with the lace band on the body. My Harry Potter scarf is getting longer, slowly. I am a little over halfway done. I still haven't gotten up the courage to take up my snowdrop shawl again. It just hurts so much to rip parts of projects out.
I am going now, lunch calls my name sweetly and urgently.

Noru Fingerless Gloves

It's been awhile since my last post. Sorry...some times it's hard to get up the energy to take photos and use the internet, etc.
I have been working on a couple of projects, none of them the big ones though. I have been abandoning the SKB (Simple Knitted Bodice) and the Yarn Harlot Shawl. More progress has been made on the Harry Potter Scarf, I am now about halfway done, it's about time for another (better) picture of the scarf. I only work on that during class, and I seem to get about 40 rows done per class (wow!).
My latest finished project is: These are my Noru Fingerless Gloves which I have ripped out like 3 times and remade countless others. I like the yarn and all, but it took me awhile to find the right needle size (I settled on US 10s), and I first started them in the round. I am quite happy with how they turned out, although they were supposed to be for one of my housemates, and they are too small for her. Oh well, they're mine now! They are knit garter with a scalloped, crochetted border for the buttonholes. You can't really see the buttons, but I found some really cute ones with fleurs on them. Someone in choir commented, "They look like wrist supports." I'm feeling a little insecure about that still...















In other news, I am making a second pair out of a wool worsted and a mohair boucle (from Maggi I think), these are for a friend for her birthday, I know they don't look like much yet, but I have now finished one, and am working on the second. I'm having fun making them, and they knit up quick. The only problem is: My friend's birthday party is this Saturday, and I am halfway done with the second one. Ack! Oh well, this afternoon I am going to go to the fabric store for buttons. Yay! Field Trip.














In other news: My mom came home Wednesday with 4 big bags full of black walnuts, does anyone want any for dyeing or anything? I can't possibly use that many. Please...think of my sanity.

School

I am now into my second week of classes at LCC. In case anyone was wondering, I am taking Chem 104. Let me tell you, this class is boring. I am really hoping that it will pick up and become more interesting. Please God! I would really like to stay awake in the class. Speaking of staying awake, here is my newest "in class" project. Sorry the lighting isn't very good, I took these pictures before I left for class, and it was at 7 am, thus bad lighting. For those of us who can't see colour very well, this is a Gryffindor scarf for moi. I have wanted one for years, and never actually bothered to make one. As fiber duck pointed out, there are patterns online that have the figurings for the correct number of stripes to do down to the stitch count and everything...but I am doing a scarf from the Philosopher's stone, not the later ones. Those are nice and chunky, like mine. I am doing this on Clover 30 cm 9s, the stitch gauge is 5 to the inch, it is in the round, and my stripes are 20 rows (in case anyone had the hankering to know the knitty gritty details, no pun intended).



















Last week I went to Dye Lots, a big mistake. I ended up coming away with this:




















This being a spindle from Spindlewood made from purple heart. I really like it, it is nicely balanced, and pretty too! That is a big consideration when you are going to be looking at it for long hours while spinning yarn upon it. The wool on it is a grey merino that I got at the Puyallup fair this Spring. I am going to ply it with some handpainted merino, so that should be interesting.

In other news, I found this last weekend. It is a skeing of worsted wool from who knows how long ago, which I found for 10 cents at a garage sale. Any ideas?

Flock and Fiber

Flock and Fiber was great fun! I went last Saturday with my Mom (who I think enjoyed herself) and I came home with Fiber Duck and Ewe Spinster. I got some roving, well...lots of roving actually. Maybe not as much as some, but I bought 1 lb of baby alpaca, not roving, but cleaned already, and some mystery bats, which I am spinning right now.
Well, I broke down and bought a new wheel. I don't yet have pictures of it on my flash drive, so I can't post the pictures... next week for that. Her name is Clothos, in case you were wondering. More tales of that to come. (Erin, do you want a spinning wheel?)

Finally I have pictures of my fir cone shawl up! I finished her before summer, but I haven't posted the finished shawl. Baaad Miriam... The bushes outside my house made a lovely backdrop for these pictures. That, by the way, is the butterfly bush that my Aunt Sara planted to attract hummingbirds. My cat, Mayumi, loves it. She used to bring us little presents all the time. My aunt, for some reason, did not like these "presents."

I also have my next project lined up. I have four skeins of the ultra alpaca from Berocco (that's 400 grms at 215 yards per skein), and I am looking for advice on a project to do. Any suggestions? It should be enough for a sweater for me...

Spinning

I am currently at Theo's waiting for knitting group, so I though that I would take advantage of the internet cafe here (again). I also have my flash drive, so I can post some pictures of my lovelies for all of you to see.
Currently I am getting ready for OFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber) which I am going to with my Mom. We are leaving Friday, and coming back Sunday, so it should be a fun trip. Like I need any new roving. Speaking of new roving, here is a picture of my spiffin' birthday loot:














In case you are wondering, there is fabric (a rayon blend), blue kid mohair locks, a button tape measurer, baby alpaca roving (4 ounces) a bookmark, some pink fire star, and some mohair/silk roving which is not in the picture because it is currently on my wheel. And of course, chocolate....yummy.
In other news, I just finished the hedgehog from fibertrends, and here is a picture of the cute little bugger: He was so easy to make, I think that this one is even easier than the sheep. Next I want to do the squirrel, cause he's sooo cute. Plus Baxter would probably looove to play with it (Baxter, the cat, enjoys terrorizing the squirrels). Maybe it would distract him from my yarn.




I also have been spinning a lot recently. Ariadne has been getting a lot of use from me. Mom has permenantly claimed Helen, which I am sort of irked about...There's something about naming objects that makes them so much harder to let go of, you know? Helen, in case you are wondering, is my 2nd wheel, an Ashford Traditional, and I have had her for 3 years now. I feel like Mom is enroaching upon my territory.

More adventures in picture land

Today I had quite an adventure. By that I mean that I walked all over town trying to post pictures.
Yesterday I purchased a brand new spiffy, shiny, etc. flash drive for my own use. Yay! I put my pictures on to said flash drive (I haven't named her/him yet, though I think "Zippy" might work) and today I trundled off to the library to post. My first stop was the Knight Library at the UofO (even though I am not a student there), but to my eternal disappointment, I couldn't find a single computer with a USB port on it. So I thought: "I shall hop skip and jump (not reall, but I did walk) over to EPL (our public library) where I know they have internet and computers." And so I walked (through the rain I might add) over to EPL. Only to find out, upon arrival, that all the computer's USB ports are not functioning and have not done so for the past three weeks. So moping home I came.
I did, however, meet a very nice Bulgarian lady at the bus stop who took out her knitting when she saw mine. I din't catch her name, I had to run and get my bus, but we had a lovely time chatting and trying to make ourselves understood. She was knitting with the yarn circling behind her neck, and she said that this was to keep the yarn straight, and I might have to try it. Though it looks to me like a recipee for disaster (I have cat genes in my blood, and I might just wind up with a knot around my neck).
In other news, Mom has decided that the spinning wheel of mine which she is using is hers; she is now referring to it as "mine." For some reason, this just bugs me to no end. This might have something to do with when she took one of my projects on the wheel and finished the bobbin because she "couldn't find all of hers." It's getting really aggravating.
***
Okay, pictures are still not working (I tried three times now, and took Carolyn's advice). I will try going to the Knight Library again (apparently I need to go up to the 2nd floor) later to add pictures to this post.
***
Edit: I am now in an internet cafe, so here are the pictures I was going to post:
This is me and my new spinning wheel, Ariadne. I have had her for two months, and I love her!












And here is a new scarf I made from Noru, it is a multidirectional scarf. Now I just have to find someone who likes the pinkness.